


You're Safe With Me.

by scxlias



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Angst, M/M, Past Child Abuse, Past Kate Argent/Derek Hale, Werewolf Culture, asshole mcasshole is being an asshole, mentioned alpha pack, surprise surprise., the non-con is only referenced
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2017-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-14 13:43:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5746009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scxlias/pseuds/scxlias
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The day of the wedding rolls around exactly six weeks after Talia cornered Scott in the clinic.</p><p>The ceremony goes off without a hitch, Rafael doesn’t show up and Scott is thrilled, they’re both surrounded by their packs, their family, and they should be happy. Scott is, Derek can smell it. Derek isn’t, Scott can smell it.</p><p>Or, the one where a marriage is arranged to keep peace between packs, and there is a misunderstanding.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wedding Bells

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kitsunequeen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitsunequeen/gifts).



> So this is a thing that I have been thinking about for a while, based off of a not!fic I wrote a few months ago. Towards the end, it has Derek thinking Scott is going to coerce him into something he doesn't want, but it never happens, just be careful. 
> 
> Dedicated to Em, because I started this to cause her pain.
> 
> Check me out on tumblr @ scxlias to scream into the void.  
> If you wanna join me in Star Wars hell, check out jxdistormpilot on tumblr. That's also me.

Peter bites someone on a Monday night and its the last they ever hear of him.

Talia refuses to talk about it, bans his name from the house, growls and flashes eyes at anyone who brings him up. Peter was her brother, and she loved him, she really did, but what he’s done is inexcusable. He killed someone, he bit someone against their will.

Talia refuses to have Peter’s actions taint her pack home any longer.

They know the Argents and the state hunters got a hold of him. They know his fate. He sealed it himself. None of them can bring themselves to feel bad.

They focus their energy on looking for the person he bit.

They have no luck until Thursday, exactly 26 hours and 37 minutes before the full moon is set to rise.

Cora bursts in the front door of the Hale house, dragging a boy behind her, his head ducked, heartbeat erratic, face burning red and the scent of embarrassment rushing off of him as Cora screeches, “I found him!”

Laura jolts at Cora’s scream and the boy flinches. Talia is in the front door in seconds, her eyes red and fangs bared as she takes in the foreign wolf in her den, so close to her girls, her pups.

The boy glances up, catches one look of her red eyes and fangs and draws in a sharp breath. His eyes blow almost comically wide and his head falls to the side, neck bared to the alpha in front of him. He looks like he’s about ready to drop to his knees, a high pitched whine building in the back of his throat, just loud enough to hear, when Talia steps forward and the boy flinches again.

“I’m sorry, ma'am, I don’t… I didn’t… I’m sorry,” the boy stammers out, his breath catching as he trips over his apologies.

“Quiet.” Talia orders, and the boy falls silent, breathing heavy and heart stuttering. “Who is this Cora, and why did you bring an omega into my home unannounced?”

Cora ducks her head but only briefly. “This is Scott McCall. He’s the one. This is the one Peter bit,” she rushes out all in one breath. “I found him, Alpha… mom. God. He’s not a threat. He’s fine, I promise. He was just at lacrosse practice, and he broke his leg. Look at him now. And he had no idea what was going on.” Cora raises her eyebrows at Talia and Scott nods fervently, agreeing with what’s just been said.

Talia just nods once and steps forward, placing a hand on the back of Scott’s neck, leading him into the house. He stays there until its 23 hours and 21 minutes until the full moon rises and he doesn’t come back the next night.

He tries to handle things himself, is certain he can, but despite his valiant efforts, Scott can’t control his wolf. Laura is there to stop him before he does something too stupid and he comes away from the night with a few scratches and a healing hole in his arm from Chris Argent’s crossbow bolt.

Scott doesn’t return to the Hale house again for the rest of his high school career. He declines the many offers to join the pack, and Talia can see why. With what Peter did to him, she doesn’t blame Scott for his feelings, and he seems to be handling himself fairly well. He has an anchor in the Argent girl and the Stilinski boy. Lahey, Yukimura, Tate, Martin, Mahealani and Whittemore seem to be adding to their little group and despite only three of them being weres, they seem to be forming a pack.

They handle threats in the town before Talia has time to process what’s been going on, before she even has time to come up with a game plan to deal with the monster of the week.

So in return, she ignores the fact that there are three weres, a kitsune, and a banshee living in her territory unchecked.

And then Scott becomes an alpha and they become a true pack, lead by a true alpha, and, well, Talia isn’t surprised at all. With the way Scott behaves… he’s a natural alpha. Its no surprise that he’d become one.

She continues ignoring the unchecked pack, even when a young boy gets bitten and it adds two more to the ragtag McCall Pack. They’re all going off to college soon anyway. She can put this all off for just a little while longer.

In the meantime, she finalizes arrangements for Laura’s wedding. As the McCall Pack all graduate high school and go off to college, Talia is talking to Satomi Ito, and a young man named Alec is getting to know Laura Hale and they’re getting ready to be married.

Three years after Laura and Alec are actually married, Scott and Lydia (who both went for programs that required extra school), and Mason and Liam finally come back from college. The others of the McCall Pack are there to greet them and there are suddenly alphas in the territory every so often with no regard to Talia, to pay visits to McCall, and Talia can’t ignore it anymore.

She tracks him down six months after he returns.

When she finds him in Deaton’s old clinic (Scott’s clinic now), taking care of a small German Shepard puppy, she’s shocked at how much he’s changed. He’s come a long way from the 17 year old boy who became an alpha so many years ago. He looks older, much older than a 25 year old young man should look.

She can tell the look in his eyes can’t mean good things. She knows he’s experienced far more than he should’ve this young. She wonders how much of that is because she sat back and let him handle problems when this was all starting.

“Welcome home, Alpha McCall,” she says with a smile and a flash of red eyes.

Scott returns a weary smile, but doesn’t give any display of power like Talia had, hardly even looks away from the small animal in his arms, soothing the little creature with gentle hands and a soft expression.

“That’s not necessary, Alpha Hale. That title is used out of fear or respect. You have no reason to feel either of those things towards me. I’ve done nothing to prove either thing to you.”

God, it breaks Talia’s heart the way he sounds. He sounds old, ridiculously so, and he’s only 25. Almost the same age as Derek, the same age as her Cora, her baby. He shouldn’t sound this way.

But he does.

“I have reason to respect you, Alpha McCall. But I think we can do away with the formalities at this point. You’ve come rather far since I last saw you. How is your pack? Are you still with that Argent girl?” Talia asks, a smile on her lips.

Scott bristles, his hand freezing on the puppy’s back. “Allison is dead. She was killed a few years ago. Four years, last Thursday, actually. Aiden, Erica and Boyd were killed too. Jackson left. Ethan left. The others are… well, all things considered.”

Talia’s smile falls. She hadn’t realized how bad these… these children had had it. She feels terrible. To lose pack like that, to suffer that much so early in their lives… Talia feels for the McCall pack, but she can’t let it get in the way of what she’s come here to talk about.

“I’m sor–”

“I know what you’re here to talk about Talia,” Scott interrupts, brushing by her to head to the front of the clinic, the puppy still cradled gently against his chest. He flips the sign to CLOSED and heads back. Talia says nothing. “I know how long I’ve had a pack in your territory. I know how long we’ve been here unchecked, without you doing something about it. I know we need to do something.”

Talia lets out a sigh that’s half of relief and half of disbelief because Scott’s so young, and he’s shouldering so much and she doesn’t understand how.

“I’m sorry to have brought up such unpleasant memories,” Talia says, voice gentle, motherly, “but you are right. We have to do something. There’s a tradition, an old one, that’s ensured peace between packs for centuries. I’m not sure you’ll like it, its not something humans much do anymore, not something you’d have been raised with but–”

Scott cuts Talia off with a soft laugh, followed by a high pitched yip from the puppy in his arms. He smiles down at the puppy and silences it with gentle touches. “I know what the tradition is, Talia. A marriage alliance. Arranging a marriage between packs is an incredibly strong bond, I know. One of my pack is already engaged to one of Satomi’s.”

Talia raises her eyebrows and makes a surprised noise in the back of her throat, but doesn’t make a comment. Scott just chuckles again and rubs the puppy’s belly.

“Mason Hewitt, one of my humans, and Brett Talbot, one of Satomi’s betas. They were growing close anyway, and when the treaty came up, they volunteered,” Scott explains. “I knew it was just a matter of time before you tracked me down too. I was waiting for it.”

Talia makes another noise in the back of her throat, this time one of approval and finally takes a seat. “A marriage alliance is what I’d prefer. My pack would be offering my son Derek, my second born. My eldest is already married to one of Satomi’s. If we were to go through with this, who would your pack be offering for this treaty?”

“Me.”

Scott’s answer comes without thought or hesitation. The response is immediate and without any doubt.

Talia’s eyebrows shoot up. “You?”

“Yes, me,” Scott says firmly, “I refuse to ask something this serious of one of my pack. The girl I thought I was going to marry died in my arms. I’m not mated. They’ve all given so much, I can make this sacrifice for my pack.”

“Come to the house tomorrow. We’ll make plans then. I’ll be seeing you soon, Alpha McCall.”

Scott can’t help the smile that flits across his face when he thinks of what that title means.

~

Negotiations go quickly. The Hale and McCall packs have already been coexisting for so long, there’s hardly any new ideas they need to bring to the table.

They get everything in writing fairly quickly, and after two weeks of treaty negotiations, Laura and Lydia go straight into a month of wedding plans. Scott hardly gets a chance to speak to Derek beyond brief snippets of conversation snatched here and there as he’s whisked away by either Lydia or Laura, depending on the day.

Scott just wishes he could get to know Derek a little better.

Derek, on the other hand, is panicking.

He’s heard the stories. Heard stories of alphas like Kali and Ennis and Deucalion. Heard stories of how they tortured and killed their entire packs, their own mates. Heard stories of how they forced their mates into….

Derek’s been with Kate. He knows how it goes.

He is praying to every god that might exist that Scott won’t be that kind of alpha.

~

The day of the wedding rolls around exactly six weeks after Talia cornered Scott in the clinic.

The ceremony goes off without a hitch, Rafael doesn’t show up and Scott is thrilled, they’re both surrounded by their packs, their family, and they should be happy. Scott is, Derek can smell it. Derek isn’t, Scott can smell it.

They head for the reception, Scott surrounded by his smiling pack. There’s a human hanging off of Scott, giving a ridiculously comedic best man speech, another human and one of Satomi’s betas attached at the hip, the werecoyote and the kitsune wrapped up in each other, two betas–one all curly blonde hair and snide remarks and the other short and smelling of anger–Scott’s other two groomsmen.

Scott and Derek arrive to the reception to cheers, flashing eyes and flashing cameras. Scott flashes his eyes right back and gives everyone a brilliant smile, and slings an arm low around Derek’s waist like it belongs there. Like Derek belongs to him already.

And no. No. No no no. Derek thought he had at least a few more hours of not belonging to anyone. Of still being his own person, before he… before he belonged to McCall.

He had more time. He was supposed to have more time.

Scott doesn’t remove his hand for the rest of the night.

Derek doesn’t stop panicking for the rest of the night.

They go back to their room later that night when the reception starts losing people and Stiles starts dancing on a table and Liam and Isaac have to remove him.

Derek’s panic spikes the second the door slams shut behind him and Scott.

He can tell Scott’s a little buzzed from whatever Talia had spiked with wolfsbane for the special occasion.

The thought terrifies Derek.

A sober alpha is scary. A buzzed alpha?

Derek is petrified.

Still, despite his fear, Derek doesn’t flinch, doesn’t move. He stands there, just out of Scott’s way and watches as Scott strips off his tux jacket, follows it with his shirt, his tie already long forgotten. Its not until Scott’s going for his belt that Derek inhales sharply and Scott turns, his focus entirely on Derek then.

When Scott’s focus turns to him, Derek freezes, eyes blowing wide, and starts stumbling for words. “I… I’m sorry, Alpha, I… Should I….” Derek stops himself before he does something wrong, his hands shaking. “What would you like of me, Alpha?”

Scott’s brow furrows and Derek’s heart beat picks up, though he’s trying his best to control it. “What are you asking me?” Scott says, stepping closer to Derek. Scott’s eyes flicker back and forth between red and brown.

He trips over his own feet after a few steps, and slaps a hand on Derek’s shoulder to steady himself, bare chest pressed up against Derek’s side.

Derek begins to really panic then, and he decides best to get everything over with. When Scott rights himself, Derek pulls his tie, jacket and shirt off. He follows that quickly with his pants and closes the distance between Scott and himself, closing his eyes, and pressing his lips to Scott’s, trying to seem like this is what he wants.

He’s not expecting Scott to stop him so fast, but he’s barely made contact before the alpha is settling his hands on Derek’s hips and shoving him back.

He looks like he sobered up in the five seconds Derek had had his eyes closed.

“Derek, what the hell are you doing?”

And, oh, no, Derek thinks to himself, he’d fucked up already. He’d barely even done anything and he’s already screwed everything up and….

His eyes screw shut again, and he twists out of Scott’s grip, breath speeding up as he bares his neck to the alpha in front of him, seconds away from dropping to his knees because he doesn’t know what Scott wants, doesn’t know what kind of alpha he is, doesn’t know his husband at all, doesn’t know, doesn’t know, doesn’t fucking know–

“Derek.” Scott’s voice is clear and strong when he speaks, but its not cruel. Not angry. “Look at me, Derek. Look at me.” He waits until Derek complies to continue. “Stop. What are you doing? What… Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. I… Derek, you don’t… I’m not… Fucking hell. I’m not expecting that from you. God, I would never ask that of you. I can tell you don’t want to be with me like that.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Derek says, voice small. “It doesn’t matter what I want, Alpha. If you want… that, I’ll do whatever you want.”

Scott closes his eyes, letting out a sad sigh, one hand messing up his hair. “Derek, get some clothes on. I’m going to sleep in the chair tonight. When we get to my pack's home, I’ll set up a separate room for you. Get some sleep.”

Derek blinks at Scott in confusion, his eyes flashing in recognition as he follows Scott's order, pulling on a pair of sweatpants and nothing more, climbing into the bed and curling up to one side, taking up as little space as he can. He’s expecting Scott will climb in after him, take up space and throw his arms and legs over Derek to show he thinks Derek belongs to him.

But Scott doesn’t do that. 

He strips out of his dress pants, and throws on a pair of sweats, a worn UC Davis Lacrosse hoodie, folding his discarded clothes and putting them away before glancing over at Derek, shaking his head, a pained look on his face.

And then, Scott curls up in the chair and closes his eyes and nothing more. 

Derek stares for a few minutes, waiting for Scott to stand, to come over and flip Derek onto his stomach, just something. But nothing happens.

Derek rolls onto his other side so he can face Scott and whispers, “That’s it? This is really it?”

Scott’s eyes snap open, glowing red, and Derek flinches, but the alpha doesn’t move. 

“This is it Derek,” he speaks quietly, like he’s afraid Derek will spook, and sits up slowly in the chair. “Did you think I’d really try to force you? I can tell you don’t want to be with me that way. You panicked the whole night at just my arm around your waist and I was doing that to try to comfort you. After spending the whole night trying to help you stay calm, did you really think I was going to force you into bed with me?”

Derek balks, because, god, yeah, he had. 

Voice smaller than its ever been, Derek says, “Yes. I thought.... I thought you were just trying to keep me close. To show me who I belong to.”

“Holy shit, Derek. You don’t belong to me, you’re a person. You don’t... Who in the hell made you think that’s what would happen?”

“My uncle Peter. He used to tell me stories, of what alpha’s would do to their mates. Alphas who aren’t like my mother. Like Deucalion and Kali and Ennis, and I just thought... well why else would you agree to an arranged marriage?”

Scott’s eyes dim, no longer a bright, burning scarlet, now just glowing enough that he can use his wolf sight to see Derek. “Derek, no. I know the kind of alphas that Deucalion and Kali and Ennis were. I met them. But Kali and Ennis are dead, and my pack made sure that Deucalion is never coming back. That’s the kind of alpha I am. I’m a true alpha. I earned my power, I didn’t steal it. I’m not like that.”

“You’re still my alpha now. You’re still an alpha. I figured you’d be like Kate,” Derek admits, eyes flashing blue in his distress.

“Who’s Kate?”

“Kate...we dated when I was younger. Kate Argent. She...” 

“Derek, stop,” Scott interrupts. “I know who Kate Argent is. I dated her niece.”

Derek’s eyes blow wide and he stammers out, “So you... you know then. You know what its like?”

“No, Allison was nothing like Kate. But I heard what Kate did. I just didn’t know that it was you she did it to. I swear, on my life, on my mother, on my pack, I will never, ever do to you anything like Kate did. That is not how relationships work and that is not anything my pack will tolerate. I am not going to hurt you Derek. Your mother would not have married you to me if she thought I was going to hurt you. You are safe with this pack. You’re safe with me.”

“Scott?” 

“Yeah pup?” Scott says softly, letting the term of endearment slip out.

“Come sleep in the bed with me?”

“You sure?”

“Positive.”


	2. Things We Don't Talk About

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, this chapter makes reference to the relationship Derek had with Kate when he was a minor and she was not (and alludes to the fact that there was non-consensual stuff happening) and to the fact the Scott's father is abusive. Please be careful.
> 
> As always, hit me up on tumblr @ scxlias   
> and join me in star wars hell @ jxdistormpilot

Being married to Scott McCall is nothing like Derek thought being married to an alpha would be like. 

They share a bed, and Derek makes breakfast for them both in the morning, but... that’s all. Scott never asks anything more of Derek and he doesn’t expect that Derek will offer anything without being prompted and that’s all. 

Derek spends his time half grateful for Scott’s behavior, and half waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

It never does. 

The furthest Scott ever goes is when he’s dead asleep, when he curls around Derek, arms draped over Derek’s stomach and legs tangled with the beta’s. Derek enjoys that, actually. Scott’s never controlling or possessive, but he’s protective as all hell, even of Derek, even of the man he didn’t want to marry. 

Derek likes that. 

The way Scott acts around his pack is so like how his mother acts around her pack, that sometimes, Derek can’t help but smile. 

The way he sweeps into a room and brightens everyone’s moods, pressing kisses to the girls’ foreheads and clapping a hand on all of the guys’ shoulders before he takes a place in the conversation. The McCall pack feels like a family, even though none of them share any blood relation, and they all go out of their way to make Derek feel like a part of the family. 

Being the alpha’s mate in the McCall pack is nothing like Derek expected, but he’s finding he likes it, beginning to think that maybe, just maybe, the other shoe is never going to drop.

Derek notices, though, that there are some things that they never talk about. 

No one ever mentions the Argent girl Scott had told him about on their wedding night. They hardly talk about their high school years, even though they’re all only fresh out of college. No one mentions Isaac’s family, or Liam’s biological father, or Malia’s family. They don’t talk about the way Liam sometimes snaps and says terrible things, or lashes out at the nearest person, only to come back hours later with bloodied knuckles and an apology. Derek sometimes catches the names Erica, Boyd, Aiden, Ethan, Jackson just before a conversation dies down.

There are a lot of things they don’t talk about. He notices that Scott’s father is one of them. He wonders why until a Saturday afternoon, seven weeks after their wedding day. 

Derek’s in the kitchen making dinner when the knock at the door comes. 

It takes him fifteen seconds to get to the door, four to greet the tall man on the other side and another six for Scott to race down the stairs, taking a place behind Derek, his scent so different from what Derek has grown used to. 

Scott’s entire demeanor is different. The alpha, usually relaxed, always with kind words for whoever he’s around, is tense, his jaw set and fists clenched. 

Derek can smell blood coming from his hands, where he was no doubt that Scott’s claws are digging into his palms. 

Derek’s mind immediately flashes through a hundred different horrible explanations for the tension between his husband and the man on their front porch before his mind processes the name the man had given. 

Rafael McCall. 

Derek opens his mouth, but Scott speaks first. “What do you want, dad?”

“Alpha McCall,” his father greets and oh. He knows why they don’t talk about Scott’s dad now. 

“Agent McCall,” Scott shoots back, the usual soft smile gone. Derek doesn’t think he could ever guess Scott’s true personality based off the look he’s giving his father. “How can I help you?”

“There’s been a string of animal attacks in Beacon Hills and the surrounding area,” is all Agent McCall says, but Scott’s eyes blaze red and his expression falls from annoyed to enraged in a half a second. 

“Oh my god, I can’t _believe_ you. After what you did, I cannot believe you have the _goddamn nerve_ to come to my _house_ and.... and accuse me or my pack or whatever the hell you’re trying to do and.... god, in front of my husband too!” Scott’s hands are shaking when Derek reaches down, takes them in his, tries to pry Scott’s claws out of his palms.

“Husband?”

“Yes, dad, husband. There’s another thing you missed while you were off who knows where.” Rafael’s gaze falls to Derek then, but Scott keeps going. “I came out while I was in college. Freshman year. And I got married. Two months ago. This is Derek. My husband, who you should’ve met when I married him, but no, you were...” Scott lets out an angry noise, half growl half yell and Derek’s eyes flash in response.

“Your eyes are blue,” Rafael says, his voice low and dangerous and sounding all too much like Peter. 

“Oh no, don’t you _dare_ say a goddamn thing about my husband. You have no right. Come back when you have a warrant.” Scott steps back then, pulling Derek with him, and slams the door in his father’s face. 

Derek flinches. 

“Scott?” His voice is small compared to the confrontation he’d just witnessed between Scott and his father, but he has the feeling Scott doesn’t want anyone else to yell. 

“What?” Scott snaps, rounding on Derek so fast that the beta drops to his knees, neck bared. Scott shakes his head, jaw dropping a little in shock. “Wh... Derek, Der, get up. I’m sorry,” he says, digging blunt human nails into the back of Derek’s neck, acknowledging his submission. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I... I’m going for a run. I’ll be back, okay? I’m sorry.” 

The pained look on Scott’s face as he turns and takes off out the back door makes Derek forgive him on the spot. 

He waits by the front door until he has Raphael McCall’s scent committed to memory.

Derek packs the food he’d been preparing away and goes back to the living room, sits on the couch and waits. And waits. 

An hour and a half after Scott leaves, he hears a howl from the east side of town, an angry howl. Scott’s. 

He waits some more. Gets up. Paces. Sits. Pulls out his phone, looks at the missed messages from the pack.

He ignores those, all of them. He doesn’t know what he’d just seen, doesn’t know what had set Scott off so quickly. He can’t answer any of the pack’s questions about their alpha. He doesn’t know how to.

It’s hours later that Derek finally hears Scott come back into the house, slamming the back door shut behind him and storming up the stairs. 

“Go to bed, Derek,” he says, voice low and rough, as he passes by him. 

Derek is hit, then, with a harsh reminder that Scott is an alpha. His alpha. And he is no longer Derek Hale, but Derek McCall, and he belongs to Scott.

Scott puts a hole in the wall that night, and Derek makes a point to pretend he fell asleep on the couch while reading.

The next morning Scott isn’t there when Derek wakes up and goes to their room. The bed doesn’t look slept in the place Scott usually occupies no longer warm. He focuses his hearing, trying to figure out what had happened to his husband when he hears it.

“...the bastard had the _nerve_ to show up here Stiles. He didn’t even call me by name. He called me by title and he... yeah, in front of Derek! He brought up the animal attacks that I know for a fact are actually animal attacks this time. He’s trying to fucking accuse me of being a murderer! And I kinda growled cause I was mad, and Derek’s eyes flashed and he points out the color of Derek’s eyes and I swear to _fucking god,_ if he so much as...” 

Derek stops listening. He can tell by the way Stiles’ voice crackles a little that Scott’s talking to him on the phone in the bathroom, as if the door between them would keep Derek from hearing. He supposes it works for the most part, because Derek doesn’t listen in on the conversation after that. 

He goes downstairs and busies himself with making breakfast, something he knows he can do without too much trouble. 

For the second time in a very short span of time, he’s interrupted while he’s cooking. It takes Derek fifteen seconds to get to the door, two to realize its Rafael McCall on the other side and another two to realize that there’s someone else and the distinct smell of wolfsbane with him. 

He opens the door with a false smile plastered on his face. “Agent,” he says stiffly, one hand gripping the door tightly, the other resting on his hip. 

Rafael does not wait for Derek to say anything further. “Derek McCall, we need to take you down to the Sheriff’s station for questioning, regarding a series of animal attacks.”

Derek freezes. He can’t technically say no to a federal officer. And the smell of wolfsbane, he realizes its coming from the other person, means that they’re prepared for him to say no, and they’re not going to accept that answer. 

Derek focuses on the other person, because that’s easier, takes in the deputy’s uniform, the hair, the smell of ...burning. 

“Parrish?” Derek’s eyes go wide as he realizes he’s staring at the hellhound allied with the McCall pack. 

Parrish presses his lips into a thin line before his brow furrows a little and he whispers, just loud enough for Derek to hear, “I’m sorry. I came to make sure he didn’t get out of hand.”

Derek nods once. “Let me get some shoes on,” he says quietly. There’s no way out of this. 

“Why are you getting shoes on?” Scott’s voice breaks the silence that had settled as Derek turned from the door. Derek curses. Scott’s going to be mad, so mad. “What’s going on here?” Scott’s tone changes as he speaks, and when he finally steps up to the open door, his eyes are red and his voice is making Derek shake.

“Alpha McCall, we’re taking your mate to the Sheriff’s Station for questioning, regarding the attacks in the woods around your home,” Rafael says, and Scott puts his fist through the wall near the door. Derek flinches.

“Like hell you’re taking my husband anywhere, Agent,” Scott growls. 

“You told me to come back with a warrant, _Alpha_ ,” McCall leers, pulling a piece of paper from his back pocket. “I did.”

“McCall, lets just go. He’s coming willingly. You’re taking this too far. You’re getting personal,” Parrish warns, taking a step forward. 

“Parrish, back up.” Its an alpha’s order, undeniably, and Parrish, not even technically a part of the pack, obeys. “Derek will go in the cruiser with Parrish. You will not handcuff my husband like a criminal. You will drive with me. I want you nowhere near Derek for as long as I can help it.”

“I’ll handcuff him if I see fit.” 

Derek’s heartbeat jacks up at that. No, he can’t deal with handcuffs. He can’t. Handcuffs bring back memories of a sharp smile and fingers trailing down his body and knives and fire, god, so much fire and pain and Kate--

“I don’t give a damn what you see fit. You will not drive him into a panic attack because you feel like you need to parade your power around.”

“What the hell are you talking about, kid?” Rafael sneers and Scott takes a step closer, his fangs bared.

“If you paid attention to the pasts of the people you decide to drag in for questioning you would know,” Scott rumbles. “If you looked at Derek’s past, you’d see that in 2005, he filed a report with the Beacon County Sheriff’s Department. That report detailed some rather explicit things that a one Katherine Argent did to him while he was a minor and she was twenty-two. It went to court. You should knows these things. Derek does not do well with being restrained. You won’t handcuff him.” Scott spat the last words at his father, and Derek could see him fighting to get his wolf side under control. 

“Scott,” Derek said quietly, his entire body shaking. “Its okay.” 

Scott slumps a little, defeated, and lets Parrish lead Derek to the cruiser. Scott steers his father to his car, eyes still red. 

Derek lets Parrish’s apologies fall on deaf ears, follows him into the interrogation room when they get to the station, ignores the look he gets from Stiles’ father.   
Outside the interrogation room, he can hear Scott and his father as they come into the station. 

“...have the fucking nerve to do this? Why don’t you just come out and fucking say it, dad? Say it to my face instead of doing all of this nonsense. Say it!” Scott yells, his voice trembling with rage. “Why don’t you have the guts to say what this is really about? How about you just say why you’re really doing this? You’re doing this because you’re a racist asshole. You’re doing this because you’re _disgusted_ with what I am, with werewolves in general. You always have been!”

“Don’t you _dare_ accuse me of something that serious in the middle of the goddamn Sheriff’s Station Alpha McCall.” Rafael’s voice is low to match Scott’s. Derek can imagine them standing toe to toe in the middle of the station, Scott taking up as much space as his father, despite his lack of height. “This is because of animal attacks in your territory and the color of your husband’s eyes.”

“Oh, really? Deputy Clarke!” Scott calls and Derek recognizes the name. That’s the older sister of the girl Liam’s engaged to. “Would you mind pulling up Derek’s record? Because if you look at it, you’ll notice that there’s a note about his eyes. About how he is not to be considered a guilty party, because of the circumstances.”

“Circumstances? He murdered someone!”

“ _And you pulled a gun on your son the first time you saw him shift!_ ” Scott screams.”How _fucking dare_ you when you’ve done what you’ve done? Look at the record Clarke pulled up. Look at it. What Derek did was mercy. The girl? It was a rejected bite. She was dying and she asked him to. There is no saving someone from a rejected bite. He saved her from more suffering. He's innocent!” There’s a sound like something slamming against a desk. 

Derek flinches.

“I have a witness to question.” Agent McCall sounds like he’s coming closer. 

“When are you going to admit it, Agent McCall?” Scott growls after him. “When will you admit you hate what I am? Everyone in this station saw you pull your gun on me. They all heard you call me an animal and a monster. They all know about the stairs!”

The door to the interrogation room slams open and hits the wall so hard, Derek almost misses the last word.

“I have some questions for you, Mr. McCall.” Rafael sits in the chair across the table and lays out pictures, mangled bodies and their crime scenes. 

“Animal attacks.” Derek says bluntly, not even looking up at the Agent across from him. 

“You see, that’s what everyone says, but I’m not convinced,” Agent McCall sighs, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed. “I think there’s something you’re not telling me, and you’re going to let me in on it.”

“Animal. Attacks.”

McCall doesn’t give up. 

Derek gives him abrupt, harsh one-word answers for what seems like hours. The clock on the wall says it’s been an hour and seventeen minutes when the door bursts open, and Stiles Stilinski, dressed in his deputy’s uniform, crashes into the room, slamming a file down on the table. Scott is leaning against the door frame, looking like he wants to punch his father in the face.

“It wasn’t Derek,” Stiles declares proudly.

“I am in the middle of an interrogation, Stilinski,” McCall hisses and Stiles just grins bigger.

“Ah, yeah, ‘bout that. No, you’re not. Not anymore. Derek here is free to go.” Stiles flips open the file and shows its contents to McCall. “You see the most trusted vet in town, a one Alpha McCall studied these crime scene images intently, and he discovered that, these bite marks could not have been made by Mr. McCall. Derek’s teeth don’t match the marks on any of the bodies, in either one of his forms. You have no grounds to hold him, Asshole McCall. Oh, shit, I meant Agent,” Stiles corrected, no hint of regret in his voice.

Scott steps into the room then and reaches for Derek, draws his husband to his feet, wraps an arm around him. 

As they’re heading for the door, Rafael speaks again, and Scott tenses, fists clenched, at the words.

“This is an arranged marriage, wasn’t it? For a pack alliance?” Rafael scoffs, standing with them. “Don’t pretend you care about him, Alpha McCall. This is ridiculous.”

Scott lets go of Derek, turns, and crowds so close into his father’s space, they’re almost touching. His eyes flare red. “Yes it was, but that changes nothing. We’re working on things, but I love Derek and care about him more than you ever cared about me or mom. This was arranged and I will still treat him better than you treated us. Not that that’ll be hard considering the way you treat me. Throwing your kid down a flight of stairs and pulling a gun on him isn’t exactly setting the bar high.”

“Dad of the Year,” Stiles grumbles, tone darker than his joking words.

“You know nothing about me, because you have been absent from most of my life ever since you got so drunk you threw me down the stairs. You have no right to say anything about me, or my pack or my husband. You forfeited that right when you became an alcoholic, abusive shell of the man my mother married. Don’t bother us again. Understood, _Agent_?”

There’s no response as Scott slings an arm around Derek’s waist and ushers he and Stiles from the room.


	3. All In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heed the tags.

They’re sitting alone in the living room of their house two days after Rafael dragged Derek to the station when Scott abruptly closes his laptop and sets it down. He doesn’t turn to Derek, but he blurts out, “My dad was abusive, when I was a kid. He’s a terrible person.”

He stares at the fireplace after that, and Derek stares at him, unable to respond for a moment. 

When he finally does, his words are stuttered and quiet. “Oh my god. Scott, I… I’m so sorry. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

Scott still doesn’t look at Derek. 

“My mom kicked him out one night. He was drunk and yelling and that wasn’t really out of the ordinary. He used to throw things sometimes too, but this one night… that time, the thing he threw was  _ me _ . Down the stairs. I don’t even remember it, I hit my head so hard. I woke up and he was gone and he didn’t come back for years. Not until after I’d been bitten and become an alpha. He just waltzed back in like he belonged here, and I thought things might get okay, like he’d changed. And then he found out what I was.”

“And he pulled a gun on you?” Derek asks quietly, setting down his book. He keeps his voice low and calm, not wanting to upset Scott. As much as the incident at the Sheriff’s Station had built some trust between Scott and Derek, Scott is still an alpha, and Derek still belongs to him and Derek is still afraid. 

Scott twists his fingers together, not looking up at Derek. His eyes flash red and Derek tenses, but they’re gone just as quickly, and he realizes that Scott’s fighting off tears. 

“Scott?” Derek whispers. His heart hurts for Scott, but he’s still too scared to move, to try to offer any sort of physical comfort. He stays pinned to his seat, watching quietly, all but holding his breath. He tries to relax, to not look like he’s ready to bolt if Scott suddenly turns angry. 

Scott isn’t Kate, he reminds himself. He is a good man and he is trusting Derek with something heavy.

“We were in the Sheriff’s Station,” Scott says, voice so small Derek nearly misses it. “We were looking for a rogue omega that was attacking people. My father happened to be in town and he was there with us, going over some files or maps or… something. I don’t remember.” There’s a pop and a sharp hiss and Derek looks down to see that Scott has accidentally dislocated his thumb, he was twisting his fingers so hard. Scott shoves it back into place with a grunt and sighs. 

“You don’t need to tell me this,” Derek says. 

Scott shakes his head and continues anyway. 

“We were all together in the station when the omega came through one of the windows. He got a swipe at Parrish’s neck and knocked Val Clarke out. And then he came after Stilinski and my father so I… I shifted. I shifted and I forced this omega into submission. I never do things like that, but he was out of control and I didn’t want to hurt him, even though he was hurting other people.” Derek notices Scott’s heart rate pick up. He says nothing. “I stopped him and Stilinski got him in handcuffs and put him away. I turned… I turned around to face my father before I’d fully shifted back, and I was staring down the barrel of a gun.” 

Derek hopes that Scott can’t hear his sharp intake of breath. 

Scott keeps going. “He told me I was a monster and a murderer, I mean how else did I get my power? He would’ve shot me if Val hadn’t come to and shouted at him. That got the Sheriff’s attention. Noah got in between me and the gun.”

Derek can feel his eyes start glowing. 

Scott gets up then, still not looking at Derek. His breathing is speeding up a little and Derek’s breath hitches at the same time. He doesn’t want Scott to feel like this. The monster he’s talking about doesn’t deserve this. 

Derek stands then, finally, and steps towards Scott. Scott passes him three times before Derek reaches out a hand and places it on Scott’s arm to stop him. 

Scott jerks his arm out of Derek’s grip and flashes his eyes, baring his fangs. 

Derek knows Scott doesn’t mean it. He knows Scott is kind.He knows Scott isn’t trying to do this. 

Derek drops to his knees anyway. He can’t bite back the whine that escapes him. 

Scott freezes.

“Oh god,” he mutters, his heart rate spiking again, his scent going suddenly sour. Derek can’t help the tremor shaking his hands. He knows he’s likely visibly trembling. 

Scott stares at Derek for a second, the beta on his knees, shaking and letting out harsh breaths. 

He collapses to his knees in front of his husband, tears welling in his eyes but not spilling. Derek’s breath evens out when Scott falls to his level, but he’s still shaking, just enough to notice. 

He ignores it. 

He leans forward, just the slightest bit.

Scott crumples into his arms. 

Derek doesn’t flinch, even though he wants to. 

He holds Scott tight as Scott trembles in his arms, his breathing going ragged in a way that can only mean he’s begun crying. The salty smell of tears hits Derek a moment later.

“I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry Derek. I didn’t mean to do that. I don’t want you to be afraid of me like this, it’s not… I don’t want to be like him. I’m not that kind of husband. I’m not… I’m… oh god, I’m just like him. You’re scared of me just like we were scared of him,” Scott mutters, his tone growing more and more horrified with each word until he’s shoving at Derek and scrambling away. Derek lets him go, watching sadly as Scott pulls his knees up to his chest, with one arm wrapped around them, the other thrown out in front of him, like he’s warding Derek off. 

“Scott.”

“I’m sorry.” 

“Scott,” Derek says, more forcefully this time. Scott freezes in place. “I’m not scared. Hey, I’m not afraid. It’s not you, just instinct. I’m jumpy sometimes. It’s okay.” He kept his voice level, wanting to calm Scott before he worked himself into a panic. 

“I’m sorry,” Scott repeats, looking up, his eyes red and red-rimmed. “I didn’t mean to do that to you. I’m so sorry that I did.” His voice hitches once, but it’s calmer now.

Derek shifts, watching Scott carefully for a moment, making sure that he really has relaxed, that he definitely isn’t going to work into a panic. He lets out a sigh of relief. 

“Scott. I know. I don’t like it, and I’m not saying it’s okay if you do that all the time to push me around, but you didn’t mean to, and I know that. So I can look past it.”

Scott shakes his head, scrubbing a hand over his face, eyes finally fading back to the warm brown Derek is growing to love. 

“You’re still scared of me though, Derek,” he says quietly. “Yeah, okay, fine, we look past what just happened. But we have to face facts eventually. You’re not totally comfortable with me. You haven’t been since the day we were married and you thought I was going to force myself on you. I don’t know if it’s because I’m an alpha or because of Kate or a combination or what, but I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to scare you.”

Derek tenses, unsure of how to answer. 

“I don’t know,” he replies after a while, reaching out slowly to put a hand on Scott’s knee, trying to stop his shaking as he does. He doesn’t want to worry Scott more. “My uncle Peter used to tell me awful stories about alphas like Deucalion and Kali and Ennis, I told you that, and Kate…” Derek pauses. 

Scott looks up then, placing his hand over Derek’s on his knee. “Go on. She’s not here. She can’t hurt you. I won’t judge. I’m just listening. I want to understand. Please.”

“Kate was awful. I thought she loved me and she just used that to manipulate me. She was cruel to me. She didn’t care how I felt about anything she wanted to do. She’d just force me to do it anyway, whether I wanted it or not. And then she went after my family and I couldn’t stop her. She…” Derek stops, his breath hitches, he can’t breathe for a second. 

“You’re safe with me, I promise. Tell me.”

“She abused me,” Derek says finally, his hand flipping over and catching Scott’s. He squeezes tightly and doesn’t let go. “I’ve never said that out loud before.” 

Scott squeezes his hand back. “I know. It took a long time for me to say it too. I know that what we went through isn’t the same, Der, but we can be there for each other. Let me be there for you. I don’t want you to be scared of me. I don’t want to be like my dad, and I don’t think you want Kate Argent to stand in the way of us ever having a good marriage.”

Derek stares at Scott for a second before he lets a small smile tug at the corner of his lips. “I don’t. I’m sorry. I’m trying.” 

Scott nods, smiling back at Derek, and giving his hand a squeeze. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not upset about any of this. I just hate that it’s between us. I don’t want you to be afraid of me, and I hate that you’ve got this… this whole thing with Kate still hurting you. I want to find a way for you to really feel safe with me.”

And Derek nods back and lets his smile really grow, because,  _ god _ , he wants that too. 

* * *

The next day somehow find a way to be even more emotionally taxing, and Derek can’t even do more than grumble about it, because of course this is their lives.

That afternoon, the pack is coming over for dinner, and it’s the first time they’ll see Melissa in person since Rafael dragged Derek to the station and Scott wanted to wait to tell her in person. Of course. 

Melissa arrives a half an hour before the rest of the pack does, bringing the stale smell of a hospital with her, only just overpowered by the scent of  _ Melissa _ , of lavender and lemongrass and pack. It calms Derek, where the scent of Scott’s nerves doesn’t. 

Melissa greets Derek with a hug and smile and a kiss on the cheek and Derek relaxes further. 

But then Melissa sets her bags down and Scott says, “Mom, we have to talk,” and Melissa’s scent turns sour and Derek tenses.

“What happened?” Melissa asks automatically. She takes off her jacket and pushes the bags out of the way so they can see each other across the kitchen table and Scott and Derek sit with her. 

Derek’s hands are steady. 

Scott’s are not. 

“Dad’s back in town,” Scott says, and his mother freezes. 

Melissa’s lips press into a thin line, her jaw set, and she carefully folds her hands together on the table.

“Tell me what he did,” she says, and it’s said calmly, but it is nothing short of a demand. 

Scott shakes his head and one of his hands drops to Derek’s forearm, like Scott needs to hold on to him to anchor himself. “Mom, I don’t want to worry you so much, we handled it, he’s not going to-”

“Scott Antonio Delgado McCall do not make me ask you twice.”

Scott’s hand flexes on Derek’s arm, but he sighs and closes his eyes. 

“He showed up a few days ago. Something about animal attacks. He wanted to question me about them, you know how he is about me being a wolf, but Derek answered the door. When I came downstairs and saw him, I got mad and it made Derek’s eyes flash, and he brought Derek in for questioning instead. Went through the trouble of getting a warrant and everything,” Scott says quietly, his gaze focused on the table. 

Melissa’s scent changes again as her son speaks, sharpening into the harsh scent of anger. Her knuckles are turning white where she’s got her hands folded together. She turns to Derek.

“Did he hurt you?” she asks through clenched teeth. 

Derek’s eyes flare for a second, but he shakes his head, pulling his arm from Scott’s grip to place his hand on the table in front of him. 

“He didn’t hurt me. I’m fine, I promise. You don’t have to-”

Melissa cuts him off too. “Derek, honey, that man is a shell of the man I married. He is a monster.” She shakes her head, looking down at her joined hands. “I should filed charges against him the night I kicked him out. I should have the second he laid a hand on Scott.”

“Mom, this isn’t your fault!” Scott protests. “What you did was incredibly brave. You kicked him out. You saved us. You protected me from him. You did that all on your own. Don’t blame yourself, please. Besides, I don’t think he’s going to bother us again. At least not for a while.”

Melissa raises one eyebrow at her son in a gesture that very obviously means ‘explain’, so Scott keeps going. 

“I kinda got into a fight with him while we were on the way to the station. I wouldn’t let him take Derek in without me going too. And we kinda brought the fight into the station with us.”

“Scott, what were you thinking? You know how dangerous that man is!” Melissa chastises. 

Scott hangs his head a little and Derek can’t help but think it’s a little strange. Scott’s an alpha. Powerful and strong and here he is, being scolded by a human. Derek bites back his snort. This is serious.ct

“I was angry! You know how protective my wolf is over Derek and dad was just being so… you know how he is. I wasn’t thinking. I was just mad. I started yelling at him about him being a hypocrite, calling me the monster after everything he’d done. And I brought up the stairs and the day he found out I’d been bitten, and he got mad and went in to question Derek, so I left and got the proof Stiles needed to make dad let Derek go. 

“We were going to just leave, but then he starts talking about how this was probably an arranged thing, for pack alliances, and how I should stop pretending I care about Derek and I snapped at him again. I told him that he didn’t have a right to say that to me, or comment on my life anymore, and that the reason we got married doesn’t change the fact that I love…” Scott trails off, eyes wide, and Derek freezes. 

Derek had almost completely forgotten what Scott had said as they’d left the interrogation room. 

_ We’re working on things, but I love Derek and care about him more than you ever cared about me or mom. _

“I… I need to go,” Derek says, standing, and all but fleeing the room. 

Scott’s voice trails after him. “Oh god. Mom, I said I loved him. I told dad that the reason doesn’t change that I  _ love Derek. _ I’ve never said that befo-” Scott’s voice is cut off when Derek slams the door to their room, breathing heavily. 

Scott loves him. 

Scott told his father he loved Derek. 

Was he just saying it to anger his father? 

Did he mean it? 

Was it just something he said in the heat of the moment? 

No, Scott can’t love him. 

If Scott loves him, that means he’ll expect more out of him, and no, no that can’t happen, they’d just started making progress towards things getting better they can’t throw this wrench in it now, not now. 

“Derek?”

Shit, he hadn’t even noticed Scott walk into the room.  

“Sorry,” Derek apologizes. Kate hated when he got like this. She didn’t like to deal with it. 

But. 

But this isn’t Kate. 

This is Scott. 

Its different. 

It is. 

It has to be. 

“I’m the one who should be sorry.” Scott crosses the room and leans against the dresser, close enough to where Derek’s sitting on the bed that they can have a conversation, but far enough that Derek has enough space. “My mom said she’d field the pack when they get here. Can we talk for a sec?”

Derek just nods, watching Scott carefully. 

“I’m sorry I just dropped that on you. That was so unfair of me.”

Derek’s eyebrows furrow in confusion and all he can do is stutter out a choked “What?”

Scott sighs and looks down at his hands. “My mom always said I fall hard and fast. That there’s no grey areas where my feelings are concerned. If you ever ask the pack about Allison? They’ll tell you how annoying I was when I first met her. I think I was in love with her from the second she first spoke to me. She was my anchor from the second I met her.” Scott sniffs and scrubs a hand over his cheeks. 

“Scott?” Derek asks quietly. “Are you okay? You don’t have to tell me this.” 

Scott shakes his head and looks up. There are tears gathering in his eyes, but he continues on. “Sorry. Off topic. I have a point. Which is. I don’t really have a spectrum of emotions when it comes to love, if that makes any sense? I’m always all in. And you’re my husband and I’ve seen how you are with your sisters and I’ve seen how you look at Laura now that she’s pregnant, like you can’t wait for that baby to come into this world so you can meet it, and the way you are with your little cousins and what I’m trying to say is that I’m all in with you. I think I love you. I know I do, actually.” 

Derek draws in a sharp breath and lets it out just as harshly. “Scott.”

“Sorry. I know that’s a lot. But you should know. I love you. And it’s not romantic love. At least not yet? Maybe one day. But I’m all in. I want to try. I want to have a family one day and I want to be able to go with you to visit your family and see the way you are with Laura’s baby and see you with your cousins and sisters and sit with Laura while you and her husband cook, cause you know that both of us can’t. I want to be happy with you, Derek. I want you.”

Derek stands then, and he doesn’t realize he’s made the decision to cross the room until he’s wrapping Scott in a tight hug, holding him close like his life depends on it. 

“I want that too,” Derek chokes out as Scott puts his arms around Derek, tentatively at first, stronger when Derek speaks. “God, I’ve wanted that for so long, and I thought I’d never… I never thought I’d have someone like you. I always just assumed I’d wind up with someone like Kate. But you’re so, so much better Scott.” 

When he finally releases Scott, they both have tears in their eyes, but they’re smiling. 

Derek speaks shyly then, holding Scott’s hands in a loose grip. “You… you’ll have to give me time and help. I’m not good at things like this. But I want all of that. I want that with you. I think it’d… I think I’ll like that.” 

Scott’s blinding smile makes Derek’s heart soar, and he must smile wider in return, because Scott lets out a laugh that’s borderline hysterical and leans in, pressing a chaste kiss to Derek’s cheek.

“You can have all the time in the world, Derek. I love you. I’m not going anywhere.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, my lack of self control grows with each day, so here's another chapter! 
> 
> As always I'm on tumblr @ _[scxlias](http://scxlias.tumblr.com/)_ , come scream into the void.


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